Signatech, formerly known as Signature, is a French

auto racing Auto racing (also known as car racing, motor racing, or automobile racing) is a motorsport involving the racing of automobiles A car or automobile is a motor vehicle with wheels. Most definitions of ''cars'' say that they run primaril ...

team and racing car constructor that competes in the

FIA World Endurance Championship The FIA World Endurance Championship is an auto racing world championship organized by the Automobile Club de l'Ouest (ACO) and sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The series supersedes the ACO's former Interco ...

. The team won the

FIA European Formula Three Cup The FIA European Formula 3 Cup was a Formula Three race held annually in Europe from 1985 to 1990 and 1999 to 2004. The Cup was awarded by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile, the world governing body for motorsport, as its main Formu ...

in 1999 with

Benoît Tréluyer Benoît Tréluyer (; born 7 December 1976) is a French professional racing driver. Early career Beginning his motorsport career in motocross and karting, Alençon-born Tréluyer switched to single-seaters in Formula Renault Campus for 1995. He ...

. It won the

French Formula Three Championship The French Formula Three Championship was a motor racing series for Formula Three cars held in France between 1964 and 2002. The series was merged with the German Formula Three Championship The German Formula Three Championship was the national ...

in 2000 with Jonathan Cochet as driver, who also won the European Cup and Masters of Formula 3 that year, and won the

Korea Super Prix The International Formula 3 Korea Super Prix was a Formula Three race held annually on the streets of Changwon, Republic of Korea between 1999 and 2003. The event enjoyed brief success as a sister 'flyaway' event to complement the season-ending ...

for the team in 2001. In 2002, Renaud Derlot won the European F3 Cup for the team. In 2003, Signature won the team championship in the first Formula Renault V6 Eurocup, with

Tristan Gommendy Tristan Gommendy (born 4 January 1979) is a French professional racing driver who currently competes in the European Le Mans Series with Duqueine Engineering. Racing career Early career Born in Le Chesnay, Yvelines, Gommendy began his professi ...

and

Kosuke Matsuura is a Japanese race car driver currently competing in the Super GT series. He previously competed in the Formula Nippon and IRL IndyCar Series. Early career After winning the Japanese Formula Dream Championship in 2001, Kosuke attracted the att ...

as drivers. They moved from the defunct French F3 series to its replacement, the

Formula 3 Euro Series The Formula 3 Euro Series was a European-based junior single seater formula for Formula Three chassis that was launched (in its current form) in 2003 as a merger of the French Formula Three Championship and German Formula Three Championship. The ...

, and

Nicolas Lapierre Nicolas Lapierre (born 2 April 1984) is a French professional racing driver. He raced with Toyota and with Alpine Racing in the past seasons of the FIA World Endurance Championship. He is a two-time winner of the 12 Hours of Sebring, with overal ...

and

Fabio Carbone Fabio is a given name descended from Latin ''Fabius'' and very popular in Italy and Latin America (due to Italian migration). Its English equivalent is Fabian. The name is written without an accent in Italian and Spanish, but is usually accented ...

completed a 1–2 finish for the team at the prestigious

Macau Grand Prix The Macau Grand Prix ( pt, Grande Prémio de Macau; ) is a motorsport road race for automobiles and motorcycles held annually in Macau. It is the only street circuit racing event in which both cars and motorcycles participate, and one of onl ...

Edoardo Mortara Edoardo "Edo" Mortara (born 12 January 1987) is a Swiss- Italian-French professional racing driver for Maserati MSG Racing. Born in Geneva, Switzerland, he holds triple nationality from all three countries. He is a former Formula Three Euros ...

and Jean-Karl Vernay repeated this feat in 2009. The team began competing in the 2009

European Le Mans Series The European Le Mans Series (abbreviated as ELMS) is a European sports car racing endurance series inspired by the 24 Hours of Le Mans race and organized by the Automobile Club de l'Ouest (ACO). The European Le Mans Series is similar to the fo ...

in the LMP1 category. The 2010 season was an outstanding one for Signature in the F3 Euroseries with Edoardo Mortara and Marco Wittmann finishing first and second in the series, winning eight races between them, and also taking the team championship. Signatech provided the chassis for the

Formula Future Fiat Formula Future Fiat was an open wheel racing series founded in 2010 by Felipe Massa and his family. It was based in Brazil. The champion received support to compete in Formula Abarth. The category was founded in 2010 by Felipe Massa and his famil ...

, a junior formula racing series in Brazil held in 2010 and 2011. Le Mans 2011 Signatech Nissan

In 2011, in cooperation with the Nissan GT Academy, Signatech finished second in LMP2 at the

24 Hours of Le Mans The 24 Hours of Le Mans (french: link=no, 24 Heures du Mans) is an endurance-focused sports car race held annually near the town of Le Mans, France. It is the world's oldest active endurance racing event. Unlike fixed-distance races whose w ...

. In 2012, Signature decided to pull out of the Formula 3 Euro Series, to concentrate on its involvement in sport car races. The team finished tenth overall at the

2012 24 Hours of Le Mans The 80th 24 Hours of Le Mans (French: ''80e 24 Heures du Mans'') was an 24-hour automobile endurance race for Le Mans Prototype and Le Mans Grand Touring Endurance cars held from 16 to 17 June 2012 at the Circuit de la Sarthe close to Le ...

using a Nissan-powered Oreca 03. In 2013, Alpine partnered with Signatech to run an LMP2 car in the European Le Mans Series with French drivers

Pierre Ragues Pierre Ragues (born 10 January 1984 in Caen) is a French racing driver, who competes in the FIA World Endurance Championship. Career Karting Debuting in karting in 1994, Ragues was second in the Monaco Kart Cup in Formula A in 2001, and third ...

and

Nelson Panciatici Nelson Panciatici (born 26 September 1988) is a French professional racing driver. Career Karting Born in Reims, Panciatici started his karting career in 1998 and continued until 2004.Formula 4 Sudamericana In science, a formula is a concise way of expressing information symbolically, as in a mathematical formula or a ''chemical formula''. The informal use of the term ''formula'' in science refers to the general construct of a relationship betwee ...

. In 2015, Signatech, continuing its partnership with Alpine, returned to the

, winning the championship LMP2 category in 2016 and 2018-19. Alpine, GIMS 2018, Le Grand-Saconnex (1X7A1670)

In 2020, Signatech returned to the European Le Mans Series under the name of Richard Mille Racing Team. The team previously planned to run an all-female lineup of Tatiana Calderón,

Katherine Legge Katherine Anne Legge ( ; born 12 July 1980) is a British professional auto racing driver, competing in the WeatherTech SportsCar Championship. She is also featured in '' Richard Hammond's Crash Course''. Racing career Early racing and Atlantic ...

and Sophia Flörsch, however, due to Legge's injury, she was then replaced by

André Negrão André Negrão (born 17 June 1992, Campinas, São Paulo, Brazil) is a Brazilian driver in the World Endurance Championship (WEC), world champion in the WEC's superseason 2018/2019 and twice winner in the 24 Hours of Le Mans (2018 and 2019) in t ...

for the first two rounds. Beitske Visser would then take over Legge's place for the rest of the season. The team would then join the LMP2 class of the 2021 FIA World Endurance Championship, with an all-female lineup of Tatiana Calderón, Beitske Visser and Sophia Flörsch. In 2021, the team partnered again with Alpine, this time fielding a "grandfathered" Rebellion R13 in the Le Mans Hypercar class for the 2021 FIA World Endurance Championship season, which finished third overall at the 2021 24 Hours of Le Mans.

Timeline

References

External links

* } {{DEFAULTSORT:Signature Team French auto racing teams French racecar constructors Auto racing teams established in 1990 1990 establishments in France Formula 3 Euro Series teams FIA World Endurance Championship teams 24 Hours of Le Mans teams European Le Mans Series teams FIA Formula 3 European Championship teams French Formula 3 teams British Formula Three teams Renault in motorsport